Welcome to our world. I am sure you will recive lots of answers to your questions. Sounds like you have a lovely home. I will let the others tell you what to plant. I think most all Hosta will thrive in your garden so good luck.
Ohio phil

of my 1500 hosta.. i would say.. 90% came mail order ... so your only limitation is ... YOUR CREDIT CARD ... lol ...

unless i missed it.. you don't tell us where you are ... it might make a difference

you list the following trees: maple, elm, locusts, cedar, sumac, oak, dogwood and mulberry.

don't bother under maples... or mulberry ... not sure about elm ....

work under the oaks ...

as for your description ... i hate to say.. but the caffeine didn't allow me to work through your whole discourse ... or its a guy thing ... lol ...

if you have a digital camera ... posting a picture would really help ...

never forget.. hosta are shade TOLERANT .. and can take a lot of sun with appropriate water ... BUT the further south you go.. the less sun they can take ...

NEVER FORGET... they are hosta.. they are the easiest plant in the world to grow [setting aside invasive weeds] .... they will probably grow on your driveway if left there all summer ... in a little mound of soil ... ALL THEY REALLY NEED is water ...

my best advice .... just go buy ten ... and stick them in the ground.. water the heck out of them ... and start a new addiction ... there just shouldn't be any fear or avoidance.. just do it ... grow them this year .. and worry about a landscape plan in a year or two ... they transplant very easily .. they multiply like rabbits .... and are basically carefree .. but for that water i keep mentioning ....

there is a recent post AT THE LINK BELOW .... where some favorites are listed ...

buy from one of our TRUSTED sites ... and you shouldn't need to worry about HVX ... halstons and naylor come to mind ... as well as many more ...

finally ... i don't understand this comment, regarding your soil: Ground is clay with 12" and better topsoil.

its either one or the other .... if the clay is 12 inches down... its irrelevant for the most part.. the hosta will do just fine in the topsoil ...

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK

Thank you Ken for that info. Here is some clarification I am in east Tn and the ground is clay. We were told it has 12" of topsoil but... Right now we are in a major drought. The trees were to help understand ph of soil. Front of house is bare for now. Nothing there but the 2 gc plants and some hay and a little grass. We moved in 3 months ago. Thanks for the link and the nursery sites.

oh.. i forgot to say welcome.. we like newbies ... they post lots of questions ...

you will have to work around drought in the future ... or you will fail with hosta .... they are mostly carefree .. except for being water hogs ....

you may want to start by considering a watering system .... i use drip lines ...

whats a gc plant?

ken

"NEVER FORGET... they are hosta.. they are the easiest plant in the world to grow"
Ken

Ken is the source of much misinformation LOL, daylilies are the easiest plant hosta are second. Since I'm growing a plant that is more difficult to grow than daylilies "I" am superior to someone.

Ph doesn't matter and you can do little to change it anyway. The plants use what is called "soil water" which is the film of water around the root to get the nutrients they need to grow.

I've written much about mulch and the soil and hosta, search my name. You will find great vitriolic and angry responses, read through that and pick out what will help you. While youÂre at it search Papou and KenÂs names and read which will lead to others who can lead you through the process.

If you can look around your house and see growing fields and forest then your soil will grow hosta just fine. Don't worry about the clay it is wonderful, full of basic nutrients and a high Cation Exchange Capacity, very important by the way.

day lily schmay lily ....

its a plant for people who don't own a mature tree to grow hosta under ...

in fact .... they don't even need to be ON THE DRIVEWAY .... they will grow under it.. and cross the road to the ditch on the other side .... perhaps daylily should be considered an invasive weed ..... lol

actually though.. daylily don't even have the water requirement ... so maybe hosta are #2 .. only in terms of carefreeness .. [new word] ...

regardless .... find some LIGHT shade ... buy hosta.. insert in ground ... water... move them when a better one comes along ... or it gets too big .... stop buying when you run out of room [which you wont in 4+ acres] .. or you pass 1000 ....

forget about all the alleged problems ... we can deal with those later ....

ken

Since you are used to tropical plants, then I suggest your first buy should be Sum and Substance.

Papou

Ty Papou but is Sum and Substance one massive hosta?

Ty Ken and Esther. I do not think water will be a real problem here. For even now things have improved alot with the few rains we have been getting. We have been told we have a under ground stream on this place. It is kind of obvious also since the land Vs there down the whole property. Our woodlands are very damp at the end of this V also.

Sorry Ken gc was for ground cover.

Ok so soil ph is not a factor, water is which I can handle since downspouts drain in this area. I was planning on lots of ferns here because of the wet ground good to know hosta love it also. Wish I could plant my gardenia it would take off but we get too cold for it in the winter.

Ok, question how fast do hostas grow? I understand the eye thing, so say a hosta has 6 eyes how many would it have the next year? Yes, I know it depends on plant but as a rough estimate what would you say. Would the small med and large grow at simular rate. I know it take a long time for a large to get to its full size that makes sense.

Oh and is there a nursery closer to me than WA. Thats a long way to ship plants. Maybe central or east coast that is good. Thanks

Welcome Akewa; You are lucky to have the winter ahead of you to plan your gardens, & hostas are a very nice plant w/ferns. Go back & read through old posts on here & check out pix on the gallery. Also look at the hosta library,thousands of pictures there! Many hosta vendors on the east coast once you have some ideas of what you like , search the hosta facts & lists . Check out Papous website too you should be ready to ask many questions by then. I am new too joined last spring, people here are very knowable & helpful.When I find a plant I love I ask here & folks will tell all about it & sometimes point out a better similar plant, for my area or even cheaper. I have stuck w/ mostly the recommend ones , and had great results this year. Google hosta & look around the net. Good luck & come back after you have seen some more pictures, you should be really hooked by then :) ~ Dot

Hello Dot,

Yes, I have been reading back posts. I am on the net alot thru the day as hubby works third and sleeps all day. We have no kids and no local family so I have lots of time to research on the net. I have been saving web links to go back to later. Right now just been reading FAQ and up to page 11 on old posts.

Well, back to reading.

Akewa,
Since you are in TN, check out the Lakeside hosta as that is where Mary Chastain, the breeder of the series is located. She has some beautiful and easy to grow hosta. As a beginner, start with the tried and true varieties. They are cheap to buy and for the most part, as Ken says, will grow on the driveway. The newer varieties are untested and sometimes a not-so-great grower will make it to market. There are a couple of growers close to you that come to mind, Mary Chastain of Lakeside Acres Hostas in Ooltewah TN, Bob Solberg of Greenhill Hostas, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery come to mind. I wouldn't be too concerned with the distance though. My experiences with the sellers mentioned so far in this thread are that you will receive a well packaged plant in a timely manner. The wild card here is the USPS and I can't say I have ever had an issue with them either. There are also some hosta societies in your area that can be very helpful. You can go to the American Hosta Society site for more info. This forum as well as many others are great sources for information as well. Full of super nice folks always willing to help as you have already seen. I am in pretty much the same situation as you as there are no good hosta retailers nearby so I have had to mail order most of my hostas. The one bad aspect to that is that there is nowhere close by for me to view mature specimens. I believe Ken is the one that has said many times to go out and look at them growing in the ground and see the mature plant before buying if at all possible. Personally I think that is very important for those of us in the hot humid south as there are many plants that do very well in our area and some that even with being babied will never amount to much.
Anyway, welcome and good luck. Come back often!
Art

Akewa,
Yes Sum and Substance is one massive, really big (giant) hosta that will reach at least 6 feet diameter at maturity (about 7 years). A 6-eye hosta is most likely a third year hosta. There is no general rule as to the number of eyes. For example a nice hosta is Bob Deane It had 3 eyes at purchase time, then 10 eyes in its third year (creep year).
Blue Angel is another huge hosta that went from 1 eye to 51 eyes in its sixth year...going thru 1-8-22-30-44-51 eyes...attaining size 57"W x 33"H...should reach maturity in a couple more years.
Most hostas reach maturity in 6 years and some may take 10 years before maturing.
If you go to my personal website PapouÂs Website there are photos of many hosta varieties in My Hosta Collection that show many details like number of eyes, size of the hosta in a particular year, etc.
Welcome to Garden Web, and good luck!

Papou

Here is a link that might be useful: Papou's Hosta Gardens

Sorry...this is the link to Bob Deane

Papou

Welcome aboard!

Will this be your first attempt at landscaping and gardening? If so what fun!

You'll love Papou's information.

You must be out in the country to have been able to get so much land. Will you be doing trees and shrubs around your house too?

Go to the local nurseries first and check out what they have for hostas in the spring. They ususlly have more eyes in each container than you would get from mail order nurseries. IMHO Start out with older varietie they are cheaper than newer introductions) Take the time to put your plan on paper first. Study the adult size of each plant you want to get so you can allow space for them to mature. Above all have fun! If you don't like the look you are able to dig the hostas up and purt another in it's place in a few years.

Connie

Akewa,welcome! I live in western NC in the mountains,so you probably have the same kind of red clay soil I have. If you have Oaks and Dogwoods,hostas will grow well under them.Look at my back post entitled "Cheer Up", and you will see pics of my garden.The leaves that fall amend the soil,so red clay will not be a problem. Good luck,and you will soon be like the rest of us:addicted. Phil